Last revised 03/09/2010

The first vertebrate fossil obtained from the Upper
Cretaceous of Kansas was the type specimen of Elasmosaurus platyurusCope,
collected by Dr. Theophilus H. Turner, the physician of the garrison at Fort Wallace, and
taken east by Dr. J. L. Leconte. It was described by Cope in
Leconte's Notes on Geology of the Route of the Union Pacific Railroad, 1868, p. 68.

The next specimen obtained was part of a cranium of Tylosaurus proriger
Cope, the type, collected by Colonel Cunningham and Mr. Minor in the vicinity of Monument
station, and sent by them to Prof. Louis Agassiz. The locality is probably Monument
station of the overland route, in the vicinity of Monument Rocks, in the valley of the
Smoky Hill river. Other specimens were later obtained by Drs. J. H. Janeway and
George Sternberg in the vicinity of Forts Hays and Wallace, and by Mr. Webb, of Topeka.

The first to make any systematic collections of fossils from the Cretaceous
of Kansas was the late Prof. B. F. Mudge, at that time
professor of geology in the Kansas Agricultural College. I was a student at that time
under him at this college, and well remember the ardent enthusiasm that he evinced in the
discoveries he made. His first expedition, as I remember, was up the Republican and
Solomon rivers into the wholly uninhabited region, the home then of the bison and roving
bands of marauding Indians. It was made shortly after the close of the college year in
1870. A chance acquaintance whom he met on the expedition, and who had recently come from
Philadelphia, urged him to send his specimens to a young and promising naturalist in that
city who was especially interested in vertebrate fossils. Although Professor Cope was then
less than thirty years of age he had already achieved renown among naturalists, and it was
to him that Professor Mudge wrote

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asking if he would be kind enough to examine the fossils and tell him what they
were. Mrs. Mudge has kindly placed in my hands a part of the correspondence that followed,
and I give herewith a letter from Professor Cope, after he had received the first
consignment of fossils.

It will be observed that Professor Cope speaks of a
specimen found near the vicinity of Sheridan, now McAllaster. This specimen, with others,
was, I believe, taken later in the season, while on a brief trip for the purpose of
examining the geology in the vicinity of Wallace. He had no team or outfit, but collected
the specimens from the immediate vicinity of the station.

PHILADELPHIA, October 28, 1870. Prof. B. F. Mudge: ESTEEMED FRIEND-The fossils arrived in safety,
thanks to the careful packing, and I have examined and determined most of them. The
collection is a valuable one, and is an earnest of what can be done for the geological
survey of Kansas under more favorable opportunities for collection.

I found portions of six species of reptilia, all of the
order Pythonomorpha, and five species of fishes, of the new family of Saurodontidæ. Of
the reptiles, there were two distorted vertebrae of a large Elasmosaurus, the
species not determinable; one vertebra of it large Liodon, probably L. proriger
Cope. The limb bones and accompanying vertebrae belong to a Polycotylus ( Cope ),
but whether to P. latipennis is not yet determined. The three other reptiles are
quite determinable, and now to science. I have called them Liodon mudgei, after
the state geologist of Kansas, Liodon ictericus (two individuals sent ), and Clidastes
cineriarum - the last from the gritty clay limestone near Sheridan.

The fishes are quite interesting, and have enabled me to define a new family,
and correct the work of Agassiz and Leidy. They belong to the genus Saurocephalus
of Harlan, which has been heretofore regarded as a Sphyrænoid fish. I find that it has
not the least relationship to that order, but forms a new and interesting group near the
Ganoids and Characius. In order to determine it more fully, I am exceedingly desirous of
getting more complete remains, especially of the cranium and fins. The following is a list
of the species:

Saurocephalus phlebotomus Cope, n. sp.

S. prognathus Cope, sp. nov.

S. napahaticus Cope, sp. nov.

S. thaumas Cope, sp. nov.

This last is the large fish eight feet long without head from 100 miles up the Solomon.
Its remains were highly interesting and enabled me to determine many new points in the
structure of the group. I found by means of it that the group has a vertebrated tail; also
that its anal or caudal fin-ray is that which has always been referred to the Ptychodon {Ptychodus]
genus of sharks by Professor Agassiz. The pectoral rays have just been described by Leidy
as a new genus of catfish, Xiphactinus audax!
Then there is a new genus of the same family, Ichthyodectes ctenodon
Cope,

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The University of Kansas Geological Survey

which is based on jaws and thirteen vertebrae from the yellow chalk. I hope that
this species also may at some future time be more fully developed.

I hope these researches, so successfully commenced, may cover the whole
vertebrate fauna of the strata, I have studied especially the mammals and birds, as well
as the reptiles and fishes. If you desire any part or all of my manuscript for the annual
report to the legislature, I will send it on; in the meantime it will appear in Silliman's
Journal and some abstracts here.

I remain, with much regard, etc.,
EDWD. D.
COPE.
Late in the season of 1870, Professor Marsh, with an escort of United States
soldiers, spent a short time on the upper part of the Smoky Hill river collecting
vertebrate fossils. The material then collected served for the description of a number of
interesting types by Marsh. It included the first known specimen of
"Odontornithes," a foot bone brought in with other material, but which was not
discovered in the material until after other specimens had been obtained later. In June of
the following year Marsh again visited the same region, with a larger party and a stronger
escort of United States troops, and was rewarded by the discovery of the skeleton which
forms the type of Hesperornis regalis Marsh, together with other material.

In 1871 Prof. E. D. Cope visited the regions and made many valuable
discoveries, besides giving important notes concerning the geology of the formation.
"The geology of the regions marked by this formation (the Niobrara epoch) is quite
simple. The following description of the section along the line of the Kansas Pacific
railroad will probably apply to similar sections north and south of it. The formations
referable to the Cretaceous period on this line are the Dakota, Benton and Niobrara
groups, or Nos. 1, 2, and 3, etc."

In 1872 Professor Mudge made another expedition into the Cretaceous for fossils. The party
accompanying him consisted of Professor Merrill, of Washburn College, Professor Felker, of
Michigan Agricultural College, Professor Warder, of the Indiana Geological Survey, and
seven students of the Agricultural College.
They explored northwestern Kansas, traveling over 900 miles. It was on this exposition
that Professor Mudge found the remarkable specimen of Ichthyornis,
from the North Fork of the Solomon,

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which furnished to the world the discovery of the then startling fact of birds
with genuine teeth. Under the date of September 2 of that year, Professor Marsh wrote to
him inquiring about his summer collections in the Cretaceous, with the offer to
"determine any reptilian or bird remains without expense," and stating that he
would give him "full credit" for their discovery. Under date of September 25 he
again wrote to him, acknowledging the receipt of a box of fossils, and stating that the
"hollow bones are part of a bird, and the two jaws belong to a small saurian. The
latter is peculiar, and I wish I had some of the vertebræ for comparison with other
Kansas species." The latter is the Colonosaurus mudgei
Marsh, which was afterwards found to belong with the bird specimen.

In the autumn of 1872, Marsh, with a small party, made another expedition
into the same region. These were the only times that Marsh personally visited these
regions, all of his collections being afterward obtained by parties employed by him. In
1873 Mudge again spent some time in the exploration of the Cretaceous beds in the more
northern part of the state -- the only region that was at all safe from marauding Indians.

In 1874 Professor Mudge began systematic collections for Yale College,
assisted by Mr. Henry Turner, of Clay Center. In July of that year his party was joined by
Mr. (now Doctor) Harry A. Brous, of Manhattan, and myself, and explorations were continued
into November along the Saline and Smoky Hill rivers.

In 1875 explorations for Yale College were continued by Professor Mudge,
assisted by Mr. Brous and myself, from March to October.

In 1876 the party under charge of Professor Mudge consisted of Mr. Brous, Mr.
E. W. Guild, who had been collecting the previous year independently, for Yale, Mr. G. P.
Cooper, of Topeka, and myself. Work was continued until late in November.

In 1877 the party (under charge of myself) collecting for Yale
College consisted of Mr. Guild, Mr. Cooper, and my brother, Mr. F. H. Williston.

Meanwhile Mr. Charles Sternberg had collected by himself in

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these regions, during 1875, for Professor Cope. In 1877 Mr.
Sternberg was in charge of a party for Professor Cope, composed of Mr. (now Dr.) Russel
Hill, of Philadelphia, Mr. Wilbur Brous and Mr. Knipe, of Manhattan. For several years
following Mr. Guild collected for Yale College and Mr. Sternberg made some collections for
Harvard University.

For a number of years prior to 1895 Mr. H. T. Martin collected for Yale
College. In 1890 Prof. George Baur collected several weeks for Professor Zittel, of
Munich. In 1889 and 1890 Judge E. P. West obtained many valuable specimens for the
University of Kansas. In 1891 a party under my charge, composed of Mr. (now Professor) E.
C. Case, Mr. (now Professor) E. Slosson and Mr. Charles Sternberg spent about two months
on the Smoky Hill river searching for specimens for the University of Kansas. Mr. Charles
Sternberg, in the latter part of that year and in the following, made considerable
collections for Professor Zittel. In 1895 Messrs. H. T. Martin and T. R. Overton spent the
season in making collections for the University of Kansas. During the past two years
collections have been made by Mr. Martin and Doctor Mathews for the American Museum, of
New York city. Some additional specimens of value have been obtained by purchase for the
University of Kansas from Mr. Sternberg, Mr. Martin, and others.

This in brief represents the explorational work in the Niobrara Cretaceous
deposits to the present time. The few months of collecting done by Marsh and Cope, was
under ample protection of soldiers. While yet the danger was fully as great or greater,
the various other parties spent over thirty months in the same regions with no protection
other than what their own rifles and revolvers afforded. Immigrants were massacred almost
within rifle shot of the parties at different times, but fortunately no encounter was had
by the explorers, though at times the danger was escaped almost marvelously."